Patch Notes - Combat II 1.1.4.5.2f2c56e (29/08/18)

What’s NewCombatAgent behaviourWe’ve spent a lot of time improving the Agent behaviour in this build. We want combat to feel diverse, realistic, fun and above all tense. Each encounter should be a challenge with different Agents employing different tactics, and likewise the player should need to approach each fight with different strategies. Here’s what we’ve been working on:A major overhaul of enemy AI: improved tactics, new aggro rules and tweaks to enemy movement. Enemies can now drift and use lateral thrusters.Enemies are more manoeuvrable and less likely to collide with terrain, if they do they can extricate themselves.New ramming behaviour for Cantankeri, Grievers, Chorister Bees, and Star-Maddened Explorers.Tells (animations and sounds) to alert the player that an enemy is about to launch a particular attack.

KnockbackKnockback is now in place on all player and Agent weapons, including area-of-effect type attacks. When you fire your weapons your locomotive will recoil, and all projectiles cause knockback to player locomotives and enemies alike, making combat feel more weighty and realistic. Many Agent projectiles also deal blast damage so try not to get too close!N.B. Knockback has not been added to small asteroids and space debris. While it would look amazing, we are not sure at the moment whether it’s something we are going to implement. It may have an impact on performance for example and we’ll need to assess that first.

TurretsAll Dreadnoughts and the Empyrean Outriders now have turrets mounted to their locomotives. Their turrets will cease to operate at a certain level of damage, but they are no longer an easy target from behind, and close range combat with them is not such a good idea. Their turrets will rotate and fire at you or any other beastie that the Agent is feeling wrathful towards.

ArcingWe’ve implemented arcing on Agent weapons. The Empyrean Outrider’s turret uses powerful homing missiles which will relentlessly hunt you down unless you are nimble enough to get out of their range. Arcing has only been implemented on Agent weapons so far, we didn't have time to balance this feature on player weapons. This will go out in a later update.

AurasAura attacks are a new type of Agent ability. Unlike weapons, they apply an effect over an area without producing a projectile. Empyrean Outriders for example, will drop a barrel bomb which will tick down and explode. If you are within the blast radius when it goes off, you will take damage. It’s not just Hull that can be affected by these AoE attacks, the Outriders bomb will kill Crew for example, and the Scrive-Spinster’s scream attack will also grant Terror to anything in its range. Aura attacks can be foreseen by their warm-up visual Tells, so a sharp sky-captain will have time to react and get their locomotive out of harm's way.

Headlight awareness and wrath crescentsWe introduced the wrath crescent in the Threat build and with Eleutheria we saw the arrival of the first Agents that react to headlights (Dousers become wrathful when headlights are on, Outriders are angered when it’s off, Grievers don’t like a light shining in their face when they are trying to catch forty winks) In the Combat II build most enemies are now aware of your headlight. Aggressive Agents will be able to sense you from further away when it’s on. Turning it off will allow you to get closer to them, or enable you to run away before they attack, though at the cost of increasing your rate of Terror gain. The Wrath crescent has been improved and will start to indicate the direction of potentially hostile Agents much earlier, allowing you to react accordingly. Will you turn tail and run or will you head into the fray?

New AgentsThis update sees the release of three new enemies: the Undeparted, Bull Cantankeri and Senior Scriveners.

Player movementWe’ve made further adjustments to player locomotives - all player vessels are now more manoeuvrable.

Engine ProblemsNow when your stats drop and you are no longer eligible for an item you have equipped, your locomotive will start to suffer from Engine Problems. Your engine’s heat value will be halved, hampering your ability to take on enemies effectively. When you next dock, your equipment will be removed along with any boosts they confer.Vessel NamesWhen you illuminate an enemy with your headlight you will now see its class, e.g. Tackety Scout, Cantankeri, Douser, etc. This information will disappear after a few seconds and you'll not see it for that individual Agent again. If you encounter an Agent of the same type, you won't see its name until a full two minutes has elapsed since sighting the first one.If the Agent is a Tackety Scout, or an Enduring or Glorious Dreadnought, then you’ll also see one of our Kickstarter backer’s vessel names. These backer names will also be seen on transient Wreck discoveries.

Updates

The new Traitor’s Wood content is fully in place.

The content for the Wreck of the Berrenger is now in game.

The Incautious Driver’s storyline can now be completed.

Headlights now flicker and cut out when entering extinguishments - sail carefully!

Agents spawns have been reduced in Eleutheria and some segments of the Reach and Albion now that their behaviour has been tweaked.

The Vala now has a quality requirement 50 Mirrors.

The Pellinore and Moloch have had their Hull value increased. The Parzival, Bedivere and Agravain have all had their Hull reduced.

The Agravain has been replaced with the Medea at the London engine yard.

Balancing to Agent and player damage, as well as Agent HP.

Hull repairs at Pan now cost Eleutherian Mysteries rather than Sovereigns.

Known IssuesBelow is a list of known issues for this build. For a full list of known game issues see our Known Issues page.

Arcing does not currently work for Agent to Agent combat.

Audio cannot currently be attached to Auras so these attacks currently have no sound effects.

The final audio is not yet in place for all Agent attacks. Placeholder SFX have been added in some cases.

When docking after suffering from Engine Problems, if you have a full Hold the jettison interface will trigger twice (just press cancel each time to close it).

Additional Hull and Crew are not removed when items are automatically unequipped on docking after suffering Engine Problems.

Agent names are missing from Curators.

Agent names for Glorious and Enduring Dreadnoughts do not display correctly in Albion.

We’ve fixed the issues with Traitor’s Wood - the old content has now been removed correctly and the new content is in place. If you were caught in the bug in the last update and you think your qualities are stuck in a state that doesn’t allow you to progress, please send an email with your save files to skies@failbettergames.com

The Survival HUD updates correctly when quality requirements are achieved with stat modifiers.

Wrath crescents no longer get stuck on screen.

The Jettison interface no longer displays over the top of the Moment of Reflection screen when passing on a legacy.

Spatchcock engine sounds have returned.

You will no longer see ambient messages referring to the Useless Cat when you don't have it.

Collision damage has been applied to all assets in Pan.

Characters assigned to the navigation bar hotkeys can once again be used when naming a locomotive.

We’ve fixed a couple of Passions and Tactics where Wrath was not being reduced correctly so Agents will no longer hunt your relentlessly.

We’ve fixed an issue that was stopping some bargains showing at ports.

We fixed an exploit at the Royal Society related to the Broken Steward.

We fixed an issue with the Sequencer's Well-Intentioned Package at London.

Monsieur Francois is now removed from the player when handed in to the Magician.

Fate of the Parzifal quest will now be marked as complete in the journal.

We fixed issues with ‘persistent on death’ qualities for Hybras and the Pernickety Factor.

Mr Menagerie now moves on from all ports correctly.

We’ve fixed issues with dropping off a settler at L&S Nature Reserve.

We fixed issues with ‘persistent on death’ qualities at Brabazon which were causing issues Unrest at Brabazon after passing on a legacy.

You can no longer choose to side with both Devils and Heartcatchers at Pan.

The Journal will now update correctly when your Aunt is a Revolutionary.

You’ll no longer see an empty Cache of Curiosities at Langley Hall

We’ve fixed issues with the various Hours at Pan.

We’ve fixed a number of inconsistencies with the naming convention for L&S Nature Reserve.

Storylets will now display at the Mausoleum even if you do not complete the story at Kensington Station.

You can now drop off letters at London and Polmear & Plenty’s.

We’ve removed a redundant branch from Caduceus.

We fixed an Experience exploit at Langley Hall.

Sovereigns are now removed from the player when purchasing tea in bulk at Achlys.

edited by FailbetterFuzz on 8/29/2018edited by FailbetterFuzz on 11/6/2018